Report: Klingberg may already be done in Toronto

It didn’t take long! Today’s Leafs practice update.

It’s safe to say that the John Klingberg experiment was a dismal failure in Toronto, just 13 games into the season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed the 31-year-old defenseman as a free agent this offseason, signing him to a one-year, $4.15 million contract on the opening day of free agency. So far, he has five assists in 13 games to start the campaign with the Leafs, which doesn’t sound terrible, but he’s been a defensive black hole since the first game. He is a brutal -8 +/-. in the lineup and are the worst defenders in the league based on defensive metrics and analytics.

Frankly: He stinks.

And he could sit out tomorrow night when the Leafs take on the Calgary Flames at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. Today, Leafs insider Jonas Siegel reported that Klingberg was the odd man out in practice and it looks like the head will be a healthy scratch for the team tomorrow night.
Yeah… I can’t imagine the team will be too happy to sign their $4.15 million free agent out of the press box. Something has to give and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the beginning of the end for Klingberg in Toronto.
To make matters worse, the Leafs apparently settled for Klingberg as early as July 1, when Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman reported that the team’s first pick was veteran defenseman Matt Dumba over Klingberg. When it became clear the Leafs weren’t going to sign Klingberg to Dumba, GM Brad Treliving moved on.
andquot;I think the guy they really wanted on July 1st was Dumba,andquot; Friedman said. andquot;I think they were on him. Klingberg went for $4.15M, Dumba came to Arizona for $3.9M, but I think he was 5th at the time ($5M). I think Toronto really wanted him and they couldn’t make a deal because they couldn’t fit Dumba where he wanted … andquot;

andquot;He was the guy (Toronto) was talking to. He was the man they wanted. But they could not match him to what he asked. andquot;

As it turned out, Dumba overvalued himself and had to wait all of July before signing a one-year, $3.9 million deal with the Arizona Coyotes.
Now, no one is saying that Dumba is the perfect player or that he is the answer to all the Leafs#039; things, but he is a much more rounded player than Klingberg and there is no denying that he would be a good fit for the Leafsand#039; system much better.